The Singer Not the Song (1961)

In a small Mexican town, a Catholic priest (Sir John Mills) and a local bandit (Sir Dirk Bogarde) clash, but the brave priest ultimately wins the outlaw's respect.

Director:

Roy Ward Baker (as Roy Baker)

Writers:

Audrey Erskine-Lindop (novel) (as Audrey Erskine Lindop), Nigel Balchin (screenplay)

Stars:

Dirk Bogarde, John Mills, Mylène Demongeot

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Bogarde	...	Anacleto Comachi
John Mills	...	Father Michael Keogh
Mylène Demongeot	...	Locha de Cortinez
Laurence Naismith	...	Old Uncle
John Bentley	...	Police Captain
Leslie French	...	Father Gomez
Eric Pohlmann	...	Presidente
Norman Florence	...	Vito (as Nyall Florenz)
Roger Delgado	...	Pedro de Cortinez
Philip Gilbert	...	Phil Brown
Selma Vaz Dias	...	Chela
Laurence Payne	...	Pablo
Jacqueline Evans	...	Dona Marian
Lee Montague	...	Pepe
Serafina Di Leo	...	Jasefa

Storyline

During the 1950s, in a small isolated Mexican village, the local Roman Catholic priest, Father Gomez (Leslie French), is an older man with a broken spirit. During his tenure in the village of Quantano, he fought hard to keep his flock of parishioners, in spite of threats and intimidation from the part of local bandit Anacleto Comachi (Sir Dirk Bogarde) and his men. The atheistic bandit has imposed his tyrannical rule over the region for many years. The local Police cannot find any witnesses to come forward and testify to any wrongdoing from the part of Anacleto. Therefore, they cannot charge him or arrest him. The Catholic Church replaces Father Gomez with a younger, more energetic priest, Father Keogh (Sir John Mills) from Ireland. Before departing the village, Father Gomez warns Father Keogh of the dangers of defying Anacleto Comachi's authority. But Father Keogh openly defies the bandit and administers his daily priestly duties at the village church. He even manages to persuade ...

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Plot Keywords:

priest | catholic priest | 1950s | outlaw | murder | 

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Taglines:

The strange and terrible combat of two men in a strange and terrible Mexican town.

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 May 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le cavalier noir

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Rank Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Introducing a clip from this movie in the rather staid context of the BBC's Best of British (1987) program in the late 1980s, Sir John Mills openly acknowledged its homosexual overtones.

User Reviews

Exciting confrontation between a honorable priest and a strange bandit dressed in black

The Rank Organisation presents a thought-provoking film , a Roy Baker production , as one of Britain's most solid stylists and released by Rank film distributors limited . It concerns on Father Michael Keogh (John Mills , his third of several works with Baker) , a priest who has been given welcome by Father Gomez (Leslie French), whom he then replaces to a Mexican village after the Revolution . The village is submitted by Anacleto Comachi (Dirk Bogarde) dressed in dark and usually on horse , with its cowardly residents hiding in the houses . Eventually, the priest assists them in regaining their confidence and defending themselves . Anacleto regularly attacks the village and steal all their supplies . Comachi is twenty nine years old and natural son and was born a countrywoman . Father Michael takes on Anacleto who murders people with alphabetic names , beginning D and going on E, F.. Meanwhile , the rich owner's daughter (Mylene Demengeot) falls in love with Comachi.

From the novel by Audrey Erskine written by Nigel Balchin , this British picture is an interesting drama that carries a genuine charge of intelligence with exciting battle of wits between an upright priest and a nasty outlaw . It deals with people living on the edges of themselves and their resourcefulness , a recurring issue in Roy Baker's work . The picture bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Guns of San Sebastian (1968)¨ by Henry Verneuil also with a priest-though false- played by Anthony Quinn who arrives in village being harassed by an evil enemy played by Charles Bronson . A Cinemascope picture in glimmer color processed by the Rank laboratories (Denham) limited, England and well photographed by Otto Heller B.S.C . Good Production Manager by Denis Holt with nice Production design by Vetchinsky made on location in Torremolinos , Malaga, Spain and at Pinewood Studios, London .

The motion picture is professionally directed in Western style by Roy Baker , though contains up and downs with an amazing final . Baker emerged in post-wars years as one of the best Brit filmmakers and ahead of his time in editing techniques , working even in Hollywood, right from his initial American film titled ¨Inferno¨ with Robert Ryan and as ¨Don't bother to knock¨ with Marilyn Monroe . His movies also achieved some of the most important popular successes of the English cinema in the 50s and 60s, including ¨Morning departure¨ ,¨The one that got away¨ and the better film about Titanic tragedy as ¨A night to remember ¨ and at TV as ¨Sherlock Holmes , The Champions , the Saint , and the Avengers¨ . On his return to the cinema in the 60s billed as Roy Ward baker , he no longer seemed the same filmmaker and indeed directed entirely different kind of subjects , mainly terror movies as ¨Quatermass and the pit¨, ¨Vampire lovers¨, ¨Asylum¨ ¨Legend of seven golden vampires among others¨ . Rating : acceptable and passable